(CNN) Evacuation orders have been lifted now that a wildfire in southern New Jersey is 60% contained, fire officials Office has partnered Wednesday.
More than 3,800 acres have burned in the fire that started in Manchester Township, although it’s unclear how the fire started, officials said.
The fire, which started Tuesday afternoon, reached record heat across the Northeast.
This one fire burned more than half of the average acreage burned in New Jersey all year, according to statistics from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
The Jimmy’s Waterhole Fire was 60% contained and had burned 3,859 acres as of Wednesday afternoon, officials said. It is only 500 hectares at 10 pm Tuesday, according to New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
About 170 structures in the Manchester Township area were evacuated Tuesday night, but all residents were allowed to return home, Manchester Police Chief Robert Dolan said. said during a press conference on Wednesday.
“The cause is still under investigation and we have teams investigating right now. So, there is no determination on that because it remains under investigation,” said Gregory McLaughlin, chief of the State Forest Fire Service on Wednesday.
He said the officials plan to check if they can find out if they can find a source or origination point of the fire.
A large wildfire burned in Ocean County, New Jersey, early Wednesday, April 12, 2023.
No structures were damaged and no injuries were reported, officials said, but firefighters were dealing with the “extreme nature of the fire,” said John Cecil, the assistant commissioner of state parks, forests and historic sites. areas of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
“We saw a wall of fire, 200-foot flames, raining embers. I don’t want to be dramatic, but it was an extreme situation that these men and women were able to stay in. in the area and protecting lives and property. that, we can’t thank them enough,” said Cecil.
No structures were damaged and no one was injured.
The fire burned primarily on federal, state and private property in Manchester Township, but has since spread to the neighboring borough of Lakehurst.
McLaughlin warned that the state will be under a severe weather watch for Wednesday and possibly Thursday.
“We saw the fires from the beginning of this year on the increase compared to last year. And we saw the fires that started earlier in the season this year where we usually see the fires that started in April,” said McLaughlin.
“So as long as the weather conditions are with low humidity and dusty air, now the wind is blowing dust at 23 miles per hour … if a fire starts, it can spread quickly.”
Recording heat can make fire conditions worse
Summer-like temperatures are expected to last through Friday, with more than 25 potential record highs falling.
“We have been under high pressure for the last two days. This has dried up the ‘fuels’ (dry brushland, dead leaves etc.). We should remain under high pressure for the next day,” Cameron Wunderlin, National Weather Service meteorologist in Mount Holly, New Jersey, told CNN. “The relative humidity is very low in this flow around the top and all the ingredients are there for fire season concerns.”
The record heat will only worsen fire conditions during the week, as temperatures climb into the mid-80s across New Jersey and other parts of the Northeast along the I-95 corridor.
Overnight temperatures will also remain high, creating challenging conditions for firefighters. Overnight temperatures will only drop into the low 60s or high 50s, which won’t allow for much recovery overnight.
“Relative humidity is calculated from the temperature and the amount of moisture,” Wunderlin said. “So when you have record highs and low humidity, the relative humidity drops below the 30% threshold that we’re looking for for severe fire behavior.”
Places like New York City, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and even Philadelphia could break records on Friday with temperatures expected to soar into the mid-80s.
Springfield, Massachusetts, could break the previous record of 77 by nearly 10 degrees if it hits a forecast high of 86 on Friday.
Wind will remain a factor as sustained winds are expected to remain at 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph.
April is considered peak fire season for New Jersey. The state has seen other large fires in recent years, including one last year that burned more than 13,000 hectares. The fire in 2022 was estimated to be 50 miles from where the fire was burning.
CNN Meteorologist Monica Garrett, Jennifer Gray and Derek Van Dam and Kelly McCleary contributed to this report.
